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Friday, May 11, 2012

RECAP: Back-To-Back. Dogs Win 8-0.

FINAL: Saint John 8, Rimouski 0

RIMOUSKI, Que. – They dominated the regular season going
50-15-0-3. They dominated the playoffs going 16-1. And they dominated the
deciding game of the President’s Cup final, defeating the Rimouski Oceanic 8-0. It
truly was another memorable and historic year in Saint John Sea Dogs land.

The Sea Dogs completed a President’s Cup final sweep over
the Oceanic on Thursday night at Colisee de Rimouski, winning their second
consecutive Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship.

It was a dominating performance – one that the Sea Dogs
haven’t had in a while. It’s safe to say they saved their best for last in this series.

The Dogs led just 1-0 halfway through the first but then
turned it on in a big way. They were up 5-0 after one and 6-0 after two. They
added two more in the third just because.

Stanislav Galiev was the big performer, recording a hat
trick and two assists. Toms Jurco had two goals and three assists. Zack
Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Danick Gauthier all added singles. Ian Saab
and Nathan Beaulieu each added two assists.

Lost in all the excitement was Mathieu Corbeil, a
goaltender many thought would not perform well in the post-season. He picked up his 16th
victory of the playoffs by making 24 saves for a shutout.

The Sea Dogs celebrated after the final buzzer of course.
Charlie Coyle was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. Commissioner
Gilles Courteau handed the President’s Cup over to team captain Jonathan
Huberdeau. It was a beautiful sight.

Early in the first, Ryan Tesink hot the post during a
scramble but it stayed out.

At 4:14, Tomas Jurco gave the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead. He was
open in front and Stanislav Galiev fed him the puck, giving Saint John the
early lead.

The Dogs made it 2-0 at 11:39. Nathan Beaulieu threw the
puck ahead towards the goal and Zack Phillips batted it in for an unconventional
goal to double their lead.

Then at 12:29, Danick Gauthier got in on the fun as the
backhanded the puck on net and it trickled in to give the Dogs a 3-0 lead. That
would chase Jacob Chouinard from the net who allowed three goals on 13 shots.

The Oceanic headed to the power play at 16:32. But they
blew their chance to get back in this one as they were unable to create many scoring
chances.

Just after it expired, Jurco scored his second of the
match at 18:55 to give the Dogs a 4-0 lead.

Then to top the dominating period off, Galiev netted his
14th of the playoffs at 19:14 to give Saint John a 5-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Shots in the first were 20-7 in favour of Saint John.

SECOND PERIOD

Rimouski headed to the power play at 1:03 of the second
as Charlie Coyle headed off. Danick Gauthier had a decent shorthanded
opportunity and that would basically be the most eventful thing to happen on
the man advantage.

Galiev gave the Dogs a 6-0 lead at 3:49 as he fired a
bullet past Carl Hozjan. Chouinard would take over in net after that goal.

Gauthier had a bunch of two-on-one chances in the period
but couldn’t connect. Overall, it was a fairly uneventful period of hockey.

Spencer MacDonald flipped the puck out of play at 18:53
to give the Oceanic a power play to kick off the third period.

Shots were 11-6 Oceanic in the middle stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

The Oceanic didn’t do anything on the power play that
carried over so the Sea Dogs remained in control.

Galiev had a great chance early on, spinning a shot on
goal that was stopped by Chouinard. He would connect at 4:44 though to give
Saint John a 7-0 lead.

Then at 7:47, Jonathan Huberdeau fired a backhand shot
that went off Chouinard’s glove and in to make it an 8-0 affair.

At 12:43, Jason Cameron headed off for goaltender
interference. Rimouski had a few good chances during the span but Mathieu
Corbeil was there to make the stops.

A few things happened late. Didn’t matter. Sea Dogs win
8-0.

Shots were 9-6 Saint John in the third.

The Sea Dogs went 0-for-1 on the power play while Rimouski went 0-for-4.

Congrats to the Dogs, job well done. Congrats to Rimouski as they showed class in defeat, well done. And congrats to this blog for keeping us fans up to date 24/7, well done. Now off to the Memorial Cup....